Bright Sparks Set To Shine On The World Stage

New Zealand’s Bright Sparks Set To Shine On The World Stage

New Zealand’s technical nous will be on display this week as two winners from last year’s ETITO Bright Sparks Competition attend to the Taiwan International Science Fair.

Shahn Taylor (18) from Hawkes Bay won the Bright Sparks Competition with a wind turbine he built from an old washing machine, while Nicholas Mabey (18) from Auckland came third with his astoundingly complex transforming robot. Over the six days of the science fair Shahn and Nicholas will showcase their inventions alongside more than 200 other students from 17 countries.

After their Bright Sparks achievements, the pair went on to win places on the Royal Society’s Realise the Dream programme last year. The programme gives 20 top Kiwi science and technology students an intensive week-long introduction to everything they’ll need to know for their future careers – covering everything from marketing to patent applications. Shahn, Nicholas and three other Bright Sparks were among the 20 selected to attend the programme from more than 2000 students who entered into science fairs around New Zealand last year.

It was at the Realise the Dream Awards at the end of the programme in December that Shahn won the Institute of Professional Engineers of New Zealand Award, and Nicholas won the Dairy NZ Travel Award, each with a trip to compete at Taiwan as the prize.

ETITO’s Bright Sparks Manager Ross Petersen says he is thrilled with what the boys have achieved, but not surprised!

“Shahn and Nick impressed us and our judges with their tenacity, their passion and the technical skill they used to take their ideas from concept to completion. The Bright Sparks programme continues to develop the talent of young New Zealanders who will be our future technology leaders – and Shahn and Nick are great examples of where the programme can take you.”

They head to Taiwan following in the footsteps of previous Bright Sparks’ success. In 2009 first and second place in the engineering category at the Taiwan competition went to winning Bright Sparks Liam Ellis of Lower Hutt and Abhilash Kamineni from Auckland. In 2010 Nikhil Mahashabde of Auckland won first place in computer science and Liam Ellis scored further success placing third in engineering.
After Taiwan, Shahn returns to continue his plans to pursue a career in electrical engineering and Nicholas will begin studying engineering at Auckland University.

The Taiwan International Science Fair runs from 14-20 February. For further information about Bright Sparks, Shahn and Nicholas visit: www.brightsparksawards.org.nz and for the Taiwan fair visit: http://www.ntsec.gov.tw/en/m1.aspx?sNo=0000478.

ENDS

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